Font.



Patented Oct. 8, l90l. P. J. DINN.

.No. 683,9l5.

FONT.

(Application filed Apr. 13, 1901.)

(No Model.) I

mi ndnms ranzns co. Pnomu'ma, WASHINGTON, 04 c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIC PATRICK J. DINN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

FONT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 683,915, dated October 8, 1901.

Application filed April 13, 1901. Serial No. 55,628. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PATRICK J. DINN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Fonts, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

Usuallyfonts employed in Catholic churches are uncovered and the worshippers entering dip the tips of their fingers in the holy water contained in the font. To keep the holy water free from exposure to dust, &c., and also for sanitary purposes, I have provided a font which is covered, and that each worshipper may have access to the water in the font I have provided the font with a device for delivering whenever desired a regulated quantity of the water. I have also so constructed the font as to contain the usual box for contributions to the poor.

Figure 1 in side elevation and partial sec tion shows a font embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a longitudinal section through the water-delivering means, and Fig. 3 a section in the line x of Fig. 2.

The font shown has its body A shaped to represent a bowl with an outturned flange a at its upper end, and as I have herein chosen to illustrate my invention the font is sustained on a column A to stand on the floor 5 but the particular shape of the body of the fontand the plan of sustaining it in the church, whether on the floor or wall, is immaterial. The body A has a cover A (represented as connected with said body by a suitable hinge b,) the cover, as shown, having a projection 11, adapted to be extended through a suitable hole in the flange a, and said projection, as shown, has a hole for the reception of a padlock 0. The invention is not, however, limited to the particular way of fixing the cover to the body of the font nor to the particular shape of the lock, and instead any other usual or suitable means may be employed.

The font is shown as surmounted by a cross.

The body A, as shown, receives within it a suitable shelf d, which I employ as a means for sustaining a poorbox 01', money put {)hrough a slot 61 in the cover entering the The body A is provided with a hole e, which receives a hollow boss e, (represented as extended backwardly from a valve-case E,) containing a measuring device e having an inlet-port 2 and an outlet-port 3, with preferably a space 4 between, and the size of the space 4 may be varied according to the quantity of water desired to discharge at each operation. The measuring device has a sleeve 6 provided with a shoulder 5, against which bears a packing 6. The stem is surrounded by a spiral spring 7 and is provided with a spline 8. The inner end of the spring 7 meets a projection 9 of the case E, and the outer end of the spring abuts the spline 8, so that the spring acts normally to keep the packing 6 of the stem water-tight against the projection 9. The spline by entering a suitable groove 10 at the interior of the case prevents the stem from rotation in the case, and consequently the stem in its movements will cause the inlet 2 to register properly with the passage-way 12 of the case and the outlet 3' with the passage-way 13 in the nozzle 14., connected with and forming part of the valvecase. The outer end of the case is shown as threaded and as receiving a guiding-cap 15, through which the stem passes, said cap con taining a suitable packing, as 16. The sleeve e is shown as threaded at its outer end (see Fig. 2) to receive an adjusting device 17, (shown as a ring,) the position of which may be changed on the stem'to control the extent of inward movement of the shank and measuring device, so that more or less of the area of the outlet 3 may be put in line with the passage 13 of the nozzle. The sleeve has a plate or handpiece 18, (shown as held in position by a suitable screw 20.) Within the case I have mounted a piston 21, which enters the chamber 4 of the measuring device, the head or rear end of the piston being seated constantly in the case.

The column A sustains a suitable dripcup G.

With the parts in their normal position (see Fig. 2) the spring 7 causes the inlet 2 of the measuring device to stand in line with the passage-way 12 of the valve-case, so that water in the font may enter and fill the space the plunger stands with its end in the passage 4. In practice the plate or handpiece 18 will be located at such a distance from the nozzle that a person may put his hand against the plate 18, push in the stem, and in this movement the palm of the hand or the roots of the fingers may be placed immediately under the nozzle, so that a quantity of water, not, however, more than contained in the space 4, may be discharged through the outlet 5 and the passage 13 into the hand. Immediately as the hand is removed from the plate 18 the spring moves the stem and measuring device into the position Fig. 2, where the space 4 is again filled with water. In some instances I prefer to use upon the nozzle 14 a strainer 23, which may consist of a cap and a layer of suitable reticulated material. The ring 17 may be adjusted on the stem so that but a portion of the outlet 3 will overlie the passage 13. It will be noticed that when the stem is pushed inwardly on the stationary piston 21 the latter acts to force the water positively from the space 4 through the outlet 3 into the passage 13 of the nozzle.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s

1. A valve-case for a font, said case having a passage-way 12 and a nozzle provided with a passage-way, combined with a piston and a measuring device accessible from the outer end of the valve-case, the movement of the measuring device causing the piston to force ing to retain said stem normally in position that the space in the measuring device may be filled with water.

3. A font, a valvecase havinga hollow boss, suitable packing between the valve case and the font, a stem having a measuring device, a plunger located in the valve-case and entering the space of the measuring device between its inlet and outlet, and a spring acting to retain said stem normally in position that the space in the measuring device may be filled with water, and a spline entering a groove of the case to prevent rotation of the stem and measuring device.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

PATRICK J. DINN. \Vitnesses:

GEO. W. GREGORY, AUoUsTA DEAN. 

